Refrigerator-car



(No Model.)

' G. B. HUTOHINS.

REFRIGERATOR GAR.

No. 245,070. Patented Aug. 2,1881.

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PATENT OFFICE.

TOARLETON'IB. HUTOHINS, F ANN ARBOR, MIoHIeAN.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,070, dated August 2, 1881.

Application filed April 5, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, GARLETONB. Hn'roHINs, of Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Refrigerator-Oars, of which the following is a' specification.

The nature of my invention relates to'certain new and useful improvements in the construction of railway-cars especially adapted to freight, and the preservation of perishable matter, or its in j ury in transportation by either heat or cold. 1 p

' The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the body of the car, by means of J which great strength is secured; and in the peculiar details of construction and combinations by means of which the temperature of interior of the car may be regulated to desired degrees of heat and cold, and by means of which the influence of the outside atmosphere is largely prevented from effecting the condition of that in the interior of the car, as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure 1. is a central vertical cross-section of my improved car on the line a: m in Fig. 2,

showing the interior arrangement of parts, andmethod of securing the two doors, the one opening inwardly and the other outwardly. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partially in sect-ion, and with a portion of the outside sheathing broken out to showthe constructionof the body proper. e I

In the accompanying drawings, Arepresents a rectangular sill-frame, of theusual construction, and the size of the car. This base is trnsscd and supported upon trucks in any of the usual or known ways. Extending'across this frame, and'supported thereby, are the timber floor-supports B O D, the former being near the ends of the frame, the latter'at the center, and 0 intermediate, of varying heights, B being the lowest, D the highest, and 0 an intermediate height, and all so arranged that a floor laid thereon lengthwise of the car would be cambered or arched, as shown in Fig. 2.

. The floor E is made of scantling or boards set upon edge side by side and bolted together. The scantling should be bent to conform to the desired curve and extend from end wall to end wall of the car, against which the ends of the floor should rest.

Between the scantlin g, if desired, white lead or any other suitable material may be placed to make the joints perfectly tight, and the under side of this floor may be sheathed with boards or other proper non-conducting material.

The side walls, F, and end walls, G, are built of scantling laid upon their sides one above the other, and at their ends the scantlingforming the side walls are halved into the ends of those forming the end walls, and bolts are passed vertically through these scantling and the sill or base frame to hold them firmly together.

Care should be taken that the scantling forming the side walls are made to the same camber or curve as that given to the floor. The top H is also made-of scantling laid upon edge, side by. side, and with their ends support ed by the side walls, to which the top is secured in anysnitable manner, and bolts should be employed, running through the scantling fore and aft, to secure them. together. Suitable doors may be provided in the sides of the car, and the scantling roof may be sheathed, if desired.

A freight-car thus constructed, without any frame above the base-frame, will be found more durable and less liable to accidental damage than those of ordinary construction, owing to there being no mortised joints to catch water and rot out, and to the peculiar form and construction of the body adapted to withstand strain from anydirection. I

To adapt this car to refrigerating purposes I construct within the same another set of floor, side and end walls, and roof, somewhat smaller in external dimensions than the inter nal dimensions of the carbody already described. Upon the floor E, I lay a coating of concrete, a, or any suitable nonconducting material, into, which are bedded the lateral sleepers 1),, upon which and to which the interior floor, c, is laid and secured. Between the side and end walls of the outer body and the inner shell, and between the inner and outer roof, the intervening space is packed with any suitable non-conducting material, and the inner shell may be externally or internally, or both, covered with a felt or paper sheathing. Oross-timbers d, supported by the side walls of the inner shell, support a corrugated galvanized iron floor, e, curved like the floor and roof, extending from side to side and end to end of the inner shell, and with the corrugations running fore and aft to allow the water from the melting ice in the chamber thus formed to run ofl" to the drip-pipes f, which conduct such water through the bottom of the car.

Hatches I are cut through the roofs of the body and inner shell, through which ice is placed in the upper chamber with the iron floor, and these hatches are provided with suitable caps or covers, as shown.

Hooks g, pendent from and supported by the timbers d, afford facilities for hanging fresh meats for transportation.

Ventilators h are put in to carry off too warm air, and other ventilating-shafts, i, may be put in near the floor to carry ofi? foul and heavy air which may accumulate. All these ventilators should be provided with valves or caps, by means of which they can be closed when desired.

To render the ear available for shipping fruit or other substances in cold weather, and which would be injured by too low a temperature, I provide a steam-pipe, 7:, adapted to be connected outside the car with any proper source of supply, and with adjoining cars in the train.

The body of the car is provided with outwardly-opening doors J, and the inner shell with inwardly-opening doors l, said doors being coincident and so constructed that when closed there is little or no space between them. A set-screw, K, passing through the outer door and engaging with a nut secured in or to the outer face of the inner door, locks both together when they are closed.

The whole should be so constructed that there can be no communication between the ice-chamber above the corrugated iron floor and the chamber below, and the inner shell should not be connected by bolts or other fastenings to the body, so that the two shall be entirely separated by the filling between them.

By this construction a very perfect isolation of the interior of the inner shell is obtained, and by the proper use of ice in warm weather, or of steam in cold weather, the proper temperature can always be maintained in the preserving-chamber.

To prevent the impregnation of the floor and walls of the inner shell with blood or liquids from the meat, which soon renders the car unfit for use for any other purpose than the transportation of meat, I cover the floor and walls with slate tiles properly secured, and which may be cleansed without dampening the floor or walls with water.

What I claim as my invention isl. A freight-car wherein the floor is curved from the center downward toward each end, and wherein the floor, walls, and roof are constructed of scantling, as described, the side walls and roof having the same curvature and in the same direction as the floor, and supported upon a base or sill frame, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with a car-body wherein the floor is curved from the center downward toward each end, and wherein the floor, walls, and roof are constructed as described, the side walls and roof conforming to the curvature of the floor and supported upon a base or sill frame which is trussed, an inner shell entirely separated from said car-body and not attached or secured thereto, except by an intermediate filling of any suitable non conducting materia l, substantially as specified.

8. In combination with a car body constructed substantially as described, and with an inner shell constructed and supported substantially as described, a corrugated iron floor the curvature of which conforms to the curvature of the roof and floor of said car-body, with corrugations running lengthwise of said hod y, supported upon cross-timbers, which are, in turn, supported by the side walls of the inner shell, and provided with a drip pipe or pipes, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In combination with a. car-body and inner shell, inwardly and outwardly opening doors secured together by the means substantially as described.

5. A refrigeratorbod y constructed, substantially as herein set forth, with curved-joist side walls, curved bottom and top, and with an inner shell of like curvature, and separated from the body by packing, in combination with an ice-chamber in the top of the shell, and with a slate coverin got the floor and walls of the shell, substantially as and for the purposes described.

6. A refrigerator-car provided with an icechamber and with steam pipe or pipes, by means of which the temperature of the car may be kept at any desired degree, substantially as set forth.

CARLETON B. HUTOHIN S.

Witnesses:

L. Y. MAYNE, P. LATHROP. 

